Plantation CultureLand and Labor in Florida History

Plantation Slavery in Antebellum Florida

The transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States in 1821 prompted the migration of thousands of American planters into Middle Florida, the region bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River and on the east by the Suwannee.

Cotton became the major cash crop and large numbers of African slaves toiled on plantations owned by the planter elite. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, enslaved persons made up more than half of Middle Florida's population.

Lithograph of a plantation on Lake Lafayette: Leon County, Florida (1839)

Lithograph of a residential street scene: Tallahassee, Florida (1839)

Francis comte de Castelnau made this sketch while visiting north Florida in the late 1830s. The view is looking east on Jefferson Street from Adams Street.

The Seminole Wars and Plantation Expansion

Plantations spread beyond Middle Florida after the United States military waged three costly wars against the Seminole Indians.

Soldiers scoured the land, burning Seminole towns and capturing men, women and children. Although they dealt several blows to the U.S. military, especially during the protracted Second Seminole War (1835-1842), the vast majority of Seminoles were either killed in battle or removed to Indian Territory by 1858.

The Seminole Wars opened up southern Florida to American settlement, ushering the peninsula into the narrative of American plantation slavery for the first time.

Prior to the Second Seminole War, Major Charles Wilhelm Bulow operated the largest sugar mill in east Florida. In 1836, Seminoles and their African allies destroyed the mill and burned the Bulow Plantation. The Florida Park Service acquired the ruins in 1945 and now operates the site as a state park.

Aftermath of the Dade Battle (1835)

On December 28, 1835, Seminole warriors attacked troops under the command of Major Frances Dade as they traveled from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala). The Seminoles killed all but two of Dade's 110 soldiers. This event, known as the Dade Battle, sparked the Second Seminole War.

Slavery Ascendant

Most American settlers arrived in Florida with few or no slaves. A small percentage of the white planters who came to Florida after 1821 held the majority of Africans in bondage. Of the approximately 1,000 cotton-producing plantations in Florida in 1850, about 200 had 30 or more slaves.

The number of planters owning 30 or more slaves doubled to 400 by 1860, reflecting the growing profitability of cotton and an increased reliance on domestic slave labor.

The largest planters, such as Edward Bradford, owned hundreds of slaves. About 300 enslaved Africans worked on Bradford's Horseshoe and Pine Hill plantations in Leon County on the eve of the Civil War.

Rear of the Gregory House: Ocheesee Landing, Florida (1936)

Planter Jason Gregory built this house on the Apalachicola River in 1849. His plantation prospered until the abolition of slavery. In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps dismantled the house and moved it across the river to Torreya State Park.

The Grove: Tallahassee, Florida (ca. 1970s)

Richard Keith Call, one of the largest slave owners in antebellum Leon County, built this house in the 1820s and 1830s. Relatives of Call lived in the home until 2009. The Grove is currently undergoing renovations with plans to open to the public as a historic house museum.

Ruins of Verdura Plantation: Leon County, Florida (20th century)

Fire destroyed the main house at Verdura Plantation in 1885. These vine-covered columns and portions of the foundation are all that remain of the plantation home.

Life Under Slavery

African slaves endured a harsh life on southern plantations. Field slaves worked from sun up to sun down in all aspects of agricultural production. Slaves tilled the soil, harvested crops, prepared goods for market, and finally, transported bailed cotton to ports and other distribution centers. Trusted slaves conducted much of the daily business of their master's estate by purchasing goods in-town, overseeing other slaves in the fields, and even accounting.

Slaves also worked inside the homes of the planter elite. For African women working as domestic slaves, life in the big house meant close contact with the slave master and his family. Some planters had affairs with their domestic slaves, or raped African women working inside their homes.

The experience of domestic slaves differed greatly from one plantation to another. In some cases, domestic slaves suffered serious physical and mental abuse from their masters. In rare instances, slaves learned to read and write from their masters or white children living on the plantation.

Away from the watchful eyes of their masters, slaves created a vibrant culture, mixing African beliefs with traditions learned in the Americas. The world created by the enslaved helped them cope with the reality of their life and work on antebellum plantations.

Slave auction notice: Jacksonville, Florida (February 8, 1856)

Scenes of the cotton trade (1862)

Tampa Newspaper ad offering a reward for the return of a runaway slave (November 17, 1860)

George Proctor: Free Black Contractor in Antebellum Tallahassee

A small number of African people gained their freedom before the Civil War. Among the free black population in Florida was the prosperous Tallahassee builder George Proctor. Proctor built several homes in Tallahassee that still stand today.

Proctor was an exception; free blacks made up only a small percentage of the African-American population in Florida before the Civil War.

The Garden Club located at 507 North Calhoun Street: Tallahassee, Florida (ca. 1960)

Built in 1848 by George Proctor. The building is now home to the Tallahassee Garden Club.

Abolitionism

Despite the abolition of the international slave trade in 1808, the illegal kidnapping of Africans continued into the mid-19th century. Many American and European governments actively pursued privateers engaged in the illegal trade from Africa to the Americas. Traffic continued, however, as not all nations complied with the mandate to end the African slave trade. In the southern United States, the domestic trade continued until after the Civil War.

As abolitionism gained strength in the North, pro-slavery forces hardened their commitment to the peculiar institution. Slaveholders defended slavery and their belief in African inferiority as inseparable from southern life and the identity of the landed elite. Strict fugitive slave laws increased the tension between abolitionists and slaveholders.

Humble appeal for the "kneeling slave" (ca. 1850)

Slaves on the deck of the bark Wildfire brought into Key West (April 30, 1860)

The United States Navy vessel Mohawk intercepted and seized the Wildfire off Nuevitas (Cuba) on April 26, 1860. The ship carried 540 Africans, illegally captured near the Congo River, West Africa, and bound for slavery in Cuba.

"Selling a freedman to pay his fine": Monticello, Florida (ca. 1860)

Jonathan Walker

In Florida, abolitionist Jonathan Walker conspired with several slaves to bring them to freedom. In 1844, Walker commandeered a vessel in Pensacola and sailed for the Bahamas. Unfortunately, Walker and his companions were captured before reaching freedom in British territory.

Authorities in the United States found Walker guilty of aiding runaway slaves. A Florida jury sentenced Walker to the pillory for one hour and also branded the letters "SS" on his left hand, for slave stealer.

Florida Memory is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services.